


Stray

by Mix Stitch (Synph)



Series: Under the Sea and Stars [4]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - The Little Mermaid, Developing Relationship, Established Relationship, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Merman Derek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-08
Updated: 2014-05-08
Packaged: 2018-01-24 01:04:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1586003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Synph/pseuds/Mix%20Stitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scott’s mother, Melissa, is used to her son bringing home strays to stay with them for a while. Dogs, cats, and the occasional clutch of bunnies is one thing. Stiles is another. A mer something is a whole different thing, one that Melissa isn’t sure that she can handle. But maybe Derek isn’t that bad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stray

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SweetFanfics](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetFanfics/gifts).



> HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEEYA!!! *smooshes your face* I remain forever in absolute adoration of you and I hope that you had/have a wonderful birthday full of good fics and good food!
> 
> Also: This takes place like two hours after the previous story in this series.
> 
> ETA: 11 out of 20 comments I received on this were pretty harsh anti-Mchalinski spam so... that was a thing I had to deal with. Thanks. Not gonna stop writing for my fave triad but it's good to know that some people really have nothing to do with themselves but try to hate.

Over the years, Melissa McCall has seen and heard her fair share of weird things. Part and parcel of being mom to a teenaged boy and all of his friends, it seems. So, when Melissa comes home to chaos after working a double at the hospital, she’s all set to simply shout at Scott and Stiles before dragging herself up the stairs to sleep through her day off.

Then she sees the trail of wet footprints leading across the entry way and to the living room.

"So much for a day off," Melissa mutters, already mentally preparing herself for whatever chaos her son and his boyfriend have come up with this time as she steps carefully around the puddles on the floor. "Maybe I should just tell them to stay at Stiles’ whenever I have a day off…"

The wet footprints lead all the way to the kitchen.

Of course they do.

"I hope you boys are ready to clean… uh."

Melissa’s jaw drops when she takes in the sight of her normally pristine kitchen covered in scales, bread crusts, and puddles of water. She whirls around, staring with disbelief at the mess that Scott and Stiles have left in her kitchen without really seeing anything. So busy is she at trying to come to terms with the amount of work that she’s going to have to do that she almost misses the fact that there’s a third person in her kitchen.

"You realize that you’re in trouble right," Melissa says to Scott, jabbing one index finger at her son’s flushed face and then down at where one of the puddles has the remains of a grape jelly sandwich floating sadly in it. "Send Stiles and your friend home and get this mess cleaned up right now!"

"But, Mom —"

Melissa almost caves under Scott’s hangdog expression. Almost. But she’s had seventeen years to build up an immunity to that look and she simply stiffens her shoulders and fixes a scowl to her face.

"Don’t ‘but, Mom’ me, Scott," Melissa says, a bit sharper than she means to at first. "You knew I had a double and you still came home and made a mess."

She turns then to include Stiles and their unintroduced friend in her gestures. “And what did I tell you about having new friends over? You’re supposed to clear them with me first, and —”

Melissa pauses, realizing for the first time that the sheepish-looking young man in front of her is both shirtless and dripping water all over the place. He also seems to be the source of the scales all over the floor, but Melissa  _really_ doesn’t want to think too much about that. Not unless she wants to run to Alan about more of Beacon Hill’s persistent  _weirdness_.

"You don’t go to school with them… Do you?"

Stiles honest to god raises his hand like he’s in school.

"Derek is um… he’s from out of town," Stiles blurts out. "Yeah. Out of town. Far away. You wouldn’t know how far away he’s from."

Melissa  _feels_  her eye start to twitch. “Then why is he sitting here and soaking up  _my_  kitchen?”

"I’m sorry," Scott mumbles at the same time that Derek, looking down at his hands for a long moment, says, "I don’t have anywhere else to go."

For all that Melissa has built up a tolerance to the pathetic faces that Stiles and Scott make whenever they want something from her, the utterly heartbroken expression on Derek’s face is something that she can’t help feeling sorry for. He looks moments away from tears, the sadness on his face so out of place that Melissa actually has to remind herself that not only is this Derek not even her kid, but he’s responsible for at least a third of the mess stretching from the front door all the way to the kitchen.

She holds out a whole minute.

"Nowhere else to go," Melissa repeats. When Derek dips his head in a shaky nod, she glances at Scott and Stiles who are looking at her with twin looks of nervousness. "Is this why he’s here?"

Scott offers his mother a watery smile.

"He’s our friend," he says softly. "He’s all alone, Ma."

Melissa looks at Derek again.

Aside from the gleaming blue and black scales trailing over his torso, the man in front of her looks like someone that she’d see attending the homecoming games at the high school or shopping at the market. He looks, for lack of a better word, normal. He doesn’t look like someone that shouldn’t be trusted and Melissa knows that her boys have always been a decent judge of character. If they say that Derek has nowhere else to go and no one else to go to…

"He can stay."

"Thanks, Mom!" Scott says with a smile so bright and filled with gratitude that Melissa has to reach out and ruffle his dark curls with one hand before hauling him into a one-armed hug despite the ache in her muscles from her shift.

Across from them, Stiles and Derek look semi-stunned and Melissa files away for future reference, the way that Stiles has been rendered speechless for once. At any rate, it’ll make for some good laughs with John the next time they get together.

"Don’t look so excited, boys. You still have to clean up this mess," Melissa says, fighting against her urge to smile at their antics. "And Derek?"

Derek looks up quickly. “Yes, Miss —um— ma’am?”

"When you’re finished, there should be some spare clothes in the guest room. You can stay there for a while until you figure out what you’re doing next."

Derek’s thanks are almost drowned out by Scott and Stiles’ twin expressions of thanks and Stiles grabbing her into a tight hug that lifts her several inches off the ground.

"Alright, aright," Melissa says through her laughter. "Now can I  _please_  get some sleep?”

*

Halfway to the stairs, Melissa hears laughter again and Stiles’ voice.

"See, Derek," Stiles says, practically crowing as though the house doesn’t have painfully thin walls. "I told you she’d let you stay if you made that face at her. You’re a natural man! You’ll have this human thing down in no time!"

In one breath Melissa decides two things, that she  _really_  needs to check in with their resident expert on all things strange in Beacon Hills and that the second she wakes up, that the boys are going to have so many chores to do even if Melissa has to have them clean their elderly neighbor’s garage as well as their own.


End file.
